IJAW Youth Council, IYC, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s handling of the allegation by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, regarding award of contracts running into billions of dollars without due process by the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, amounted to a cover up.
The IYC, led by Eric Omare, in a statement, said: “We make bold to state that allegation of lack of due process in the award of contracts running into billions of dollars borders on corruption, hence President Buhari ought to have thoroughly investigated the allegations before taking a decision.
“We wish to state clearly that for President Buhari to merely direct the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Kachikwu and Baru to work together to move the oil industry forward amounts to a cover up of grievous allegations of breach of due process in the management of the affairs of Nigeria.
“This is nothing more than the family affairs approach to the management of national affairs by previous governments and not in tandem with the change mantra. The Buhari administration in this respect is not different from previous governments that sometimes treated issues of serious national concern as family affairs to the detriment of Nigerians.
“The IYC states that if President Buhari’s administration wants to be taken seriously in its anti-corruption war, then it must treat all allegations and cases of corruption in the same manner, irrespective of whether top officials of his government are involved or not.
“The war against corruption must not only be for members of the opposition parties but must be total for it to have the desired effect. This double standard is responsible for the inability of President Buhari to release the outcome of the investigation into allegations of corruption against the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Director General of the National Intelligence Agency.”
Source: Vanguard News
